Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of "crude and clumsy" spying on its territory after a suspected CIA agent was caught in Moscow seeking to recruit an agent while disguised in a blonde wig.

The foreign ministry issued an official protest to the U.S. ambassador who it summoned to an early morning meeting, but signs also grew that neither side wanted the Cold War-style incident to develop into a full scale crisis.

Nigeria's military on Wednesday announced the "massive"deployment of troops to its restive northeast, after the president declared a state of emergency in areas where Islamist insurgents have seized territory.

A separate military source speaking on condition of anonymity told Agence France Presse that fighter jets would also be deployed to the region, raising the possibility that Nigeria could carry out air strikes within its own territory.

British Prime Minister David Cameron faced a showdown with eurosceptic rebels on Wednesday in a parliamentary vote over his plans for a referendum on membership of the European Union.

Up to 100 disgruntled backbenchers from Cameron's Conservative party are set to vote for a motion expressing "regret" that the coalition government has failed to enshrine in law the promise to hold an in/out referendum.

A defendant on trial over a fatal gang-rape in New Delhi last December is critically ill after being attacked in prison, his lawyer said Wednesday, weeks after the main accused died in the same jail.

Vinay Sharma was rushed to the state-run Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi on Tuesday with chest injuries after he was assaulted in Tihar Jail, lawyer A. P. Singh told Agence France Presse, also alleging that his client's food had been poisoned.

Malaysia's premier on Wednesday unveiled a cabinet line-up which he said would help national reconciliation after a racially divisive election, but which was noticeably light on Chinese faces.

Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition, which has ruled multiracial Malaysia for 56 years, fended off the strongest opposition challenge ever in an election marked by anger over racially divisive policies.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he may meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un if it could help resolve the long-pending issue of Pyongyang's kidnapping of Japanese citizens.

"If a summit meeting is deemed as an important means in considering ways to resolve the abduction issue, we must take it into consideration as a matter of course in negotiating with them," Abe told a parliamentary committee.

At least seven people have been killed and two are missing in floods and mudslides following heavy rain across Sri Lanka, the disaster management center said Wednesday.

A tropical cyclone east of the island did not make landfall but caused unusually heavy rain in the past two days which triggered flash floods, the Disaster Management Center said.

Two sets of talks on Wednesday aimed at easing tensions over Iran's nuclear program are not expected to produce any major breakthrough ahead of next month's elections in the Islamic republic.

In Vienna, the U.N. atomic agency, the IAEA, will press Iranian officials to grant access to sites, documents and scientists involved in Tehran's alleged efforts to develop atomic weapons.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh and Myanmar were ordered Wednesday to move to safety as a cyclone barrelled towards low-lying coastal areas.

The United Nations has warned that more than eight million people could be at risk from Cyclone Mahasen, which is expected to make landfall on Thursday or Friday somewhere near the border between the two countries.

Six people died and more than 30 others were injured after a building collapsed in northeastern Rwanda, police said Wednesday as they called off rescue efforts a day after the accident.

"Six people working on the site died as the result of the building collapse," Rwanda's police said in a statement. "The search and rescue mission...has been completed and the site is clear."